A Mothers Sacrifice
by AussieJM
Summary: Sometimes when life throws you a major curveball, like your marriage dissolving before your eyes, the universe decided its the perfect opportunity to test you... just to see how far you can be pushed, to see how deep a Mothers love truly runs.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

I own nothing… well I own the concept of this story… Just not the characters… they are Brad Bells.

Several weeks have passed since the discovery of Steffy and Bills night in the guest house at the Forrester Mansion. Liam and Steffy have had no direct contact with each other, but not from a lack of trying on Steffy's behalf. Every day she sends countless messages to Liam, trying to talk to him, wanting to let him be apart of his baby's life, filling him in on the current developments with their baby. Steffy hasn't been seen in public since Liam leaving and has also been absent from Forrester Creations which has made the tabloids suspicious.

"Liam, I know right now you hate me. It's all my fault that our worlds have fallen apart, but right now you and I need to talk about something that is bigger that you and me…" Steffy sighed into the phone as she proceeds hang up the phone.

"Liam" mutters to herself as she starts to text Liam:

 _S: Liam, I need you to call me back… we need to discuss some things._

 _S: And I would rather not discuss everything on_

 _the phone or via text, can we please meet._

 _L: Steffy I have NOTHING MORE to say to you!_

 _S: I don't need you to say anything… I just need you to listen…_

 _S: Please…Its about our CHILD Liam!_

 _L: FINE! Tomorrow 1pm at the Cliff House._

 _S: Thank you, Liam._

The next day Liam arrives at the Cliff House early, noting the strange car in the drive, thinking that Steffy is finalising a business meeting Liam walks around to the side patio, to wait for 1pm. When Liam notices that it is now 1.10pm and he has yet to see the car leave he barges in through the sliding door.

"Look Steffy… I don't have all day so your…" Liam's voice trails off once he looks up from his phone screen, noticing for the first time a very thin looking Steffy sitting on a hospital bed in the middle of the living room. Upon noticing Liam enter via the side door Steffy rushes to pull up the blankets at the bottom of the bed, causing her to wince as the nurse inserts a drip into her arm.

"Liam!" Steffy exclaims, shocked to see him enter via the patio.

"What's going on here?" Liam asks with a waver in his voice, a sense on fear and dread wash over him.

"Liam!"

"Why is there a hospital bed in the living room? What the HELL is that nurse giving you?" demanded Liam.

"Liam, I didn't want you to find out like this…" Steffy begins but is suddenly cut off by Liam.

"Find out WHAT Steffy? Is our baby okay?"

"Liam the baby is fine, developing just the way it should be. Six more weeks of growing…"

"Then what is with the setup… why the nurse and the medicine? Why are you looking so thin and frail? Wait… what do you mean 6 more weeks of growing? Steffy your only 24 weeks pregnant, I know because I have this stupid app that tells me what key things are happening for our baby each week, like that the baby is the size of a cantaloupe this week. So, I know for a fact that you should have another 16 weeks of being pregnant, not 6!"

"Liam, I said our baby was fine… but I am not, I'm sick Liam, like really sick." Steffy admitted to her Husband while attempting to keep her emotions in check.

"What do you mean you're sick? You mean like you have really bad morning sickness right…?"

"If only" Steffy mutters.

"Steffy… Talk to me…" Liam pleads.

Just as Steffy is about to start opening up to Liam about what is going on her nurse interrupts.

"All set Mrs Spencer, that steroid treatment should be finished in about an hour. So, if you don't mind, Mam, I might take my break now… just remember: stay in your bed; no sudden movements, we need this IV to stay in place, your baby needs all this medicine; and most importantly no stress!" she says the last bit while looking directly at Liam. "Call me if you need anything, I won't be far away."

"Amy, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Steffy! I promise to stay relaxed" Steffy says as her eyes fall on Liam, "Enjoy your break."

"Okay Steffy, no more excuses, no more interruptions, our phones are on silent… baby, talk to me, what's going on? Don't even think about saying nothing because this doesn't look like nothing!" Liam asks as he sits on the side of her bed.

"Liam, I have been trying to talk to you for weeks now… you been ignoring my calls, remember." "Steffy! Please, tell me what is going on! I know I have been ignoring your calls, I was hurt, hell I am still hurting but right now you… this… are scaring me…"

"Liam, you had every right to be angry with me. I hurt you in the worst possible way. I have no excuses for what I did… all I can do is tell you how sorry I am…" Steffy is suddenly interrupted by Liam.

"What's going on Steffy?"

"Liam, please, I am going to talk, and I need you to listen, without interrupting me… can you do that for me please?" Steffy pleads.

"I'll try…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"That's all I can ask for…" Steffy says as she lets out a large sigh.

"A few weeks ago, when I was having a check-up, the Doctor noticed some unexpected changes in my body, changes that didn't match up with how far along I am. Initially, the doctor thought that since I have previously been pregnant my body might be changing quicker this time around as it already has an idea of what to do. Doctor Phillips wasn't convinced that this was the case so to be on the safe side she decided to run some more tests." Steffy starts to explain.

"Well, what did the results say?" Liam inquired, getting more anxious by the second.

"I am getting there, I promise! This isn't easy for me to talk about. I feel like the second I say it out loud, its true and that a really scary thought, okay!" sighed Steffy. "After a heap of tests, scans, ultrasounds, more bloodwork and a few more intense scans they discovered that the reason for my expanding chest, well, my left boob, wasn't due to the early production of milk… Liam, they found a mass." Steffy finally admitted out loud with tears streaming down her face.

"What do you mean they found a mass? Are your milk glands infected or something?"

In a hushed whisper, she says the words that Liam was dreading… "Liam, I have breast cancer…"

"CANCER…! No, no, no you can't have cancer, nope, not happening Steffy, the doctors are wrong! Baby, please tell me the doctors are wrong!" Liam rants while pacing the room with his head in his hands. Mentally flashing back to his mother's cancer treatments before he moved to LA. Quietly under his breathe he mutters 'not again!'

"And here is the real kicker! I am too pregnant for it to be safe for the doctors to operate, but I am not pregnant enough to be induced for delivery!"

"Liam" Steffy cries "They wanted me to terminate our baby and start treatment straight away, but I can't. I can't do that, I can't lose another baby. I wouldn't survive that, I wouldn't want to survive that. I know, I have this feeling, deep down inside of me that this, this precious little baby, is my only chance of becoming a mum. I honestly don't think I will ever be pregnant again after this little one, and that thought kills me. More than anyone will ever know!"

"Oh, my love, come here." Liam pleads with open arms, pulling his wife into his side, suddenly even more relieved that Steffy's stubborn streak had prevented her from signing the annulment papers.

"I couldn't talk another child away from you, no matter what it costs me!" Steffy continues.

"Oh, my love, you have been dealing with this on your own all this time! All the while I have been so angry at you when in hindsight I have instilled the very same pain onto you in the past. We were married, and I was flitting between you and Hope. Baby, I am so sorry…I" Steffy suddenly interrupts.

"Liam! Right now, this isn't about us, I am not telling you all this to guilt you into coming back home, nor to make you feel obliged to be with me. I just… I needed you to know. I need for us, as our baby's parents, to be on the same page. I needed you to be here when Carter arrives, I needed you to not be blindsided when I start to get my affairs in order."

"Steffy don't you dare talk like that!" Liam growls. "The Steffy I know, my beautiful, loving, caring selfless wife is a fighter and she IS capable of doing anything and she IS going to deliver a healthy baby and then she IS going to kick this cancers BUTT! Do you understand me? So, don't you give up on me now! Now is the time for you to be a stubborn as hell, for those Douglas genes to come out strong. Now is the time for you to fight like you have never fought before because as angry as I have been with this situation, I can not do this whole daddy thing if you aren't here to be mommy. I can't, I just can't." Liam pleads through his tears.

"Liam, I promise you I am not giving up! I'm not, god there is nothing I want more than to grow old with you and our baby; but I am scared. I am so scared that for a brief moment I am going to have everything I have ever wanted in this world, my husband by my side and our baby in my arms. I am scared that all that is going to be ripped away by this illness. But Liam for as scared as I am I need to be smart, I need to have everything prepared for the worst-case scenario…"

"I don't even want to contemplate 'worst case scenario'" Liam sighs.

"I know, neither do I, but I need to be smart and be prepared for everything to turn for the worst… for you and most importantly for our baby! In that moment the last thing I need to be thinking about is my affairs and last wishes." Steffy states.

"At my last appointment, the Doctors were telling me about what is going to happen… how this will all play out. At the moment I am being given a steroid cocktail that is designed to help the babies lungs to develop quickly so that he or she is more prepared for when they come into the world. Right now, we are aiming to make it to 30 weeks but that could change at any moment, the later the better."

"Oh god!" Liam whispers.

"Now once the baby arrives, he or she, is going to need you more than ever. Our tiny baby is going to be in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and they are going to need daddy to be strong for them. They are going to need their daddy to be there for them because their mommy can't…"

"My love, what is going to happen with you, how are they going to …"

"Once I deliver I will be having surgery to remove the mass and then starting an intensive chemo after that, but your focus needs to be on our baby, not me, please promise me our baby will be your focus, not me."

"My love, don't make me promise you that…"

"Liam, please!" she pleads. "Carter will be here soon, and I need to get this all out! I need to know that if anything goes wrong, this little one will be okay, I want to have made all the difficult decisions now so that you and my family don't have to if it comes to that. I hate to think that it isn't going to go in my favor, but **I** need to be prepared. I need everything organized, so you don't have to worry about anything except our precious baby."

"Oh babe, god I am so sorry! I should have been here, I should have noticed the desperation in your voice in the messages you left me. I should have known that something was wrong, that something bigger than just our relationship was in turmoil. I should have been here with you. I shouldn't have let you go through this alone. GOD, I should have been here! I let my anger cast a shadow over my love for you. So many people kept telling me to just come home and talk to you, to forgive you, hell even Hope was in your corner!"

"WHAT!" Exclaimed Steffy.

"I know, that surprised me just as much as it just surprised you! I think she even had words to Sally, telling her to stay away. Letting her know that she too has been on this merry-go-round before and telling her how it ends…"

"Why am I not surprised that Sally was sniffing around. Did she even wait a day before she tried to make a move… wait, I don't actually think I want or need to know the answer to that! That woman doesn't deserve the energy it takes to be angry!"

"You know who was your biggest champion though. The person who was adamant that I needed to look beyond what had happened, that I needed to remember out past, to think about all the pain that I put you through every time I played the back and forth game with you and Hope. The person who made me think about what you must have felt when you found Hope and I rolling around on our bed…"

"Who Liam?"

"Katie, gosh it all makes sense now. The way she was throwing Hope and my relationships back in my face, the acknowledgment of all the pain that relationship caused you over the years. It all makes sense to me now, Katie knows, doesn't she? She knows you're sick, she knows about the cancer…" Liam continues starting to become angry.

Thinking that Liam's anger is directed at her and the fact that Katie knew how complicated this pregnancy truly was Steffy starts getting defensive.

"Liam, I don't have the energy right now to grow a baby, stay stress-free and have an argument with you regarding who knew and who didn't know I was sick. I'm sorry but I just don't. I am so tired all the time, when our baby isn't taking what little energy I have left I don't want to waste that time fighting… okay. I love you too much to spend this time fighting with you over who I have sworn to secrecy. I just don't have the energy to fight people anymore! I have had to fight with my doctors to keep our baby! I then had to fight with them to keep our baby inside until 30 weeks. I am fighting to keep this all out of the media. I just don't have it in me to fight with you anymore." Steffy sobs.

"Okay, so no more fighting, I am calling a truce, an armistice, a ceasefire if that's what you want to call it. There is only one fight I want you to focus on and that is kicking this cancers butt! Baby, I have never known you to step away from a fight so now is not the time to start, okay! I need you to do 3 things for me …"

"The first thing I need you to do is fight. Fight like hell for our baby, so our son or daughter can have the best chance in life." Liam sighs.

"The second is Kick this cancers butt, it chose the wrong woman and family to mess with! And thirdly, I need you to grow old with me and our child. I need you to do all these things for me, okay my love. I need you to fight! But right now, baby, I need you to rest. I need you to curl up in my arms and rest. I promise to be here, where I belong when you wake." Liam explains to Steffy through his tears.

"Promise?" a sleepy Steffy questions.

"Promise, my love!"

As Steffy drifts off to sleep Liam pulls out his phone and begins to message Katie, looking down he notices that Steffy is already asleep, he quickly snaps a photo of Steffy curled up in his lap and captions it with a note of thanks for kicking his butt!


End file.
